Rochester Institute of Technology - Techmila / Ramikin Yearbook (Rochester, NY)

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 RAMIKIN 9 Present Home of the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute

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RAMIKIN The Institute Out of the need for men trained along technical and industrial lines came the founding of the Mechanics Institute. The fact that it so successfully met this need is due to the leadership of Captain Henry Lomb, founder and first presi- dent, and the help and interest of other public spirited citizens who gave freely of their time and money that its purpose, “to promote such practical educa- tion as may enable those persons receiving instruction to become better fitted for their occupations in life, might be accomplished. How well this has been done is amply attested by the rapid growth and valuable service of the Insti- tute to Rochester and its environs. Since the meeting of its first class on November 23, 1885, in an upper room of the Rochester Free Academy, the Institute has continued to foresee and to meet the ever increasing demand for the special type of education it offers. In 1892 seven years after its founding, the Institute was admitted to the Regents of the State of New York, By this time it had absorbed the old Rochester Athenaeum and had outgrown its cpiarters on the third floor of the Smith and Perkins Building in Exchange Street where it had moved after one year at the Free Academy, and had acquired property for its permanent home in the block between South Washington and Spring Streets. The manuel training building was the first to be erected on this site and the department of Industrial and Fine Arts moved into the new quarters in December, 1894. A library and reading room was also established at this time in the same building. In the year 1900 George Eastman purchased the remainder of the square facing on Plymouth Avenue and erected a main building for the Institute. The Eastman building was completed April 15, 1901, and the classes moved into what has been their home ever since. The Bevier Memorial Building was erected in 1910-11 in memory of Mrs. Susan Bevier from a fund given by her to the Institute for this purpose. This building houses the school of Applied Art which is generally recognized as the finest equipped art school of its size in the country. Several other buildings were also added—the Girls’ Dormitory, the Practice House, and the Power House. With tlu addition of new buildings eoine a corresponding addition of new courses such as the engineering cooperative courses, and the courses in Home Economics, and dietetics. Thus the Institute has been able in the forty-two years of its existence to offer a valuable service to the community as well as to the individuals who have directly benefitted by its.training. 1927 8

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RAMIKIN — lin ier Memorial Building, 1910—Home of Applied Arts Nathaniel Rochester Home, Which Occupied Site of Bevier Building 1927 10